The Glymphatic System
How your brain detoxes during sleep.
In 2012 the glymphatic system was discovered by a team of doctors.
Just like your lymphatic system uses the lymph fluid in your body along with hydration and movement to detox your body keeping it clean and healthy. The glymphatic system is a cleaning system for your brain. It uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to clean and detox your brain. CSF waves are linked through breath and are small and gentle when we are awake. When we are in the slow, deep sleep, delta waves, the CSF waves are frequent and strong. The brain even shrinks to make the cleaning process more effective.
Sleep is a complex process with stages and cycles, including one rapid eye movement (REM) and three non REM (NREM) stages. NREM 1 is light sleep where you are just dozing off and beginning to relax. NREM 2 and 3 are when our brain sorts out the events and memories of the day, making some stronger and pruning out the unneeded ones. This is called memory consolidation. Next we have REM or deep sleep, the delta waves, the vivid dreaming stage. This is when the CSF starts to flush and clean out the neurotoxins that, if left behind, can create dis- ease in the brain.
These stages of sleep run in cycles of 60-90 minutes, these cycles are important for the CSF to properly clean the brain. Just like you wash and then rinse your dishes, the more cycles you experience the cleaner your brain becomes.
You do not stay in deep sleep the entire night, but it is important to get about 7 hours for your body to run through the 4 stages several times.
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